


Grievances

by tempestJaded (parallelDiversity)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alpha Session, Angst, Beta Session, HS AU, Homestuck AU, Multi, no i'm not sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-21
Updated: 2013-03-21
Packaged: 2017-12-05 23:48:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/729269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parallelDiversity/pseuds/tempestJaded
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Be careful what you wish for. </p><p>When Gamzee and Terezi go off on their own thing, abandoning Karkat, all hope seems lost. Karkat wanders through the asteroid until he comes to a massive door with the SGrub Beta symbol on it. One wish and the symbol morphs into the Alpha logo. </p><p>So what happens when you mix an unlocked Alpha session, beta trolls and kids, and two Knights?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Grievances

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tawnya](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Tawnya).



  
Slowly his fingers traced down the length of the book. His eyes fixed on the blood spatters that decorated the surface, but they were unimportant now. What was truly in need of prioritization was the state of the survivors of the game. 

That text held the sacred memories of the fallen and the victors. Even so, the sight of their smiling faces burned Karkat's heart. His chest tightened as he looked through the images and rued their sight. Why had he even decided to look at the thing, anyway?

"Traitors," he spat bitterly. Survivors or the betrayal of friends seemed vaguely similar.

Karkat shifted his shoulders against the cold wall of the lab. No matter how many different ways he sat there was no comfortable spot on that cold asteroid. There wasn't a friend to keep him warm, not a lusus to remind you that things would be okay, and certainly no love to be found. 

The worst of the world seemed to be crashing down around the young troll and there wasn't much to be done to stop it. He wasn't sure of how things worked in human culture, but he knew that when all your friends left you or died live seemed pretty grim. Who knew, perhaps that was a sign of strength on earth. Better yet, maybe they felt the same. 

Though, for then and now, Karkat could feel nothing but emptiness. It was a hollow sort of feeling that vaguely fills you with a blackened mixture of grief and self-pity. Every breath brought down a crushing sadness that weighted itself in the depths of Kar's lungs, tightening with each choked sob. 

Sometimes you're so far deep in your own sadness that everything around you seems like a thick, tar-filled pit. Your anxiety bubbles threatening to swallow you whole. Weighted by the presumption to fail, you could try standing against it. Though, you'd probably collapse beneath the crushing force of your own self-doubt. Maybe, just maybe, you've got enough integrity left in you to claw your way up the wall so that you're standing. 

But there it is again. Misery. Helplessness. A future so grim that even Rose "Grimdark" LaLonde looks like a shimmering star compared to Karkat. Hell, even Kanaya had left him for Rose. Everyone was occupied with their own romances and so the lonesome was left to waltz in the memorial path of the dead. 

After a long stretch of silence Kar managed to push himself off the floor and stagger to his feet. There was no use crying over spilt utter juice and so everyone moves on. 

Maybe. 

For hours, it seemed, Karkat wandered the halls aimlessly with heavy eyes and shaking limbs.

How long had it been since he'd slept? Though, he supposed it didn't matter. The dream bubbles were haunted with memories of happy times and smiles between all. Rather, the young troll didn't want to see what he'd lost. 

The hall lights hung loosely overhead and flickered like rats had chewed through the wires. Somehow with the darkness in Kar's heart the world manifested in a similar way. 

Eventually halls ended and new ones began. This process went in circles until finally the boy was met with a tall door with the SGrub symbol glowering down upon him. Its sickly green glow filled Kar with regret as he faced his own shortcomings once again. 

"I get it," he muttered as he stared at his feet. "I fucked up. I suck at being a leader. I'm sorry."

Though, it's not the nature of glowing doors to respond to the pitiful people before it. "Everyone's gone and it's because I'm terrible at what I do..." If the wall had thoughts it might have said that what the boy was saying wasn't true. Everyone's going to stumble sometimes. 

Even so, the troll was deaf to all unspoken signs leading to his escape. For once in his life he would be left to his own devices. He could immerse himself in introspection and finally fall victim to the silence that filled his head. 

But, God, just for once... just for once he wanted to feel nothing but bliss. Safety, comfort, and trust in one person without fearing that they would leave for something better. Not even that. All Kar wanted was for someone to love him unconditionally and to not always be looking for something better. 

Shoulders trembling weakly, Karkat pressed his hand into the glowing door and hung his head. No one was ever playing the game. The game was always playing them. 

"I just want it all to stop... just make it stop!" 

Oh, Karkat. Be ever so careful of what you wish for.

 

Somewhere deep in the winding paths of the asteroid... 

Instantly the trolls knew something was gravely wrong. To the humans the slight tremor in the rocky surface was nothing, but the surviving players of SGrub knew far better than to leave the motion unnoticed. 

Kanaya was the first to sense the vibrations racing through the ground below them. Her ears pricked to the rumbling sound filling the great cavern in which her and Rose stood. Eyes narrowing towards the sound of the noise, the girl's defenses rose. The Seer only sucked in a hard breath and closed her eyes. She knew this would happen, as a Seer does, she foresaw the outcome of the moments ahead. They needed to leave that cavern or it would be too late. 

"We have to go," Rose pulled on the troll's wrist urgently. "Now." 

"Where's the human Dave?" The troll turned as Rose only bit her lip. "Is it too late?" 

"Never mind them. We have to go before the cavern collapses," Rose insisted a little harder as she began tugging the troll girl towards the broken edges of the halls that broke up into pebbles at their feet. 

"Collapses?" 

Before Kanaya had a chance to question the Seer further a hollow crackling noise filled their ears. Both of their eyes shot to the roof of the curved cavern as a massive fissure broke through the rock. Inconceivably large pieces of rock rained down upon the girls. Out of instinct Kanaya's eyes widened to the sight. 

Panic buzzed at Maryam's fingertips as she pushed all her weight against Rose to move the girl. Just as LaLonde collapsed onto a pile of dusty pebbles a blade of rock divided the cavern.

A massive gust of air blew debris and smoke down the hall, Rose throwing up her hood against the earthen assault. 

The girl stiffened her body on the ground as she waited for the cloud of dust to clear. Her hands gripped the earth with all her might in hopes that neither falling shale nor space's vacuum would pry her from the asteroid. 

As soon as the veil of debris and smoke was lifted Rose scampered to her feet and slid down the cavern's shell. She let out a cry of shock when she was faced with a wall of solid rock. It had seemed that the roof had collapsed onto. Though, luckily, only in one piece. 

"Kanaya!" Rose called, her throat tightening with fear that her friend may have been crushed. "Kanaya!" 

At last a shaky cough broke the silence of tumbling rock and crackling earth. From behind the wall Rose could hear the sounds of someone standing up and bracing themselves against the rock. Suddenly a sound of someone spitting filled the air. It could be blood or vomit. But which? 

"Are you safe?" Kanaya finally replied. Rose's heart fluttered with relief as she rested her forehead against the cool stone. 

"I am. Can I assume you are the same?" 

"I'm not dead," was all the girl said before a strange hissing noise filled the air. The wall blocked her view, blast it, but by the sounds of things Kanaya had spun around and seen something frightening. Her hoarse cry broke the hissing noise as the sound became clearer.

"Rose, you must run! Find the others and get them onto a portal!" Kanaya rushed her words. There wasn't much time. 

"What's that sound?" 

"Run, Rose!" 

Rose staggered back in shock when she heard Kanaya's body hit the floor and her mouth smothered by an unseen hand. A rustling sound made it clear that the young troll girl was being dragged away with little struggle. Something that could take a chainsaw-wielding rainbow drinker? Rose would not be the one to stick around to see what the creature was. 

Though, she was morally conflicted by leaving her love in the hands of some beast even though she could not reach the monster. One of them had to survive. 

Seeing it best to run, Rose scaled the curved wall of the cavern back up to the broken hallway. She had to find Dave and the two trolls. That blind one and the mad one. Wherever they were, their paths needed to collide soon.

 

Terezi didn't like the smell of that grumbling in the ground. Something wasn't right about it.

She'd heard plenty of thunder and bubbling volcanoes filled with delicious reds, but this sound seemed ominous. Dark and perilous despite the time of peace that seemed to briefly fall upon them. 

Not knowing left from right, Gamzee ignored the sound and kissed Terezi's forehead lovingly, but the girl had had enough. Her hand pushed her flushed's love away as she stared off into the vague distance from where the growls of the asteroid came. How strange. It stopped as suddenly as it had begun. 

"What's wrong?" Gamzee pried. 

"Something smells wrong about this..." 

How timely these trolls were. 

Just after the moment Terezi decided to dismiss her caution the room around them began to shake violently. Gamzee wrapped his arm around the girl and pulled her close to his chest. Chunks of the ceiling crashed to the floor with vehement force, but there was something Gamzee could not have seen. 

Eyes drawing wide, Terezi pushed out of Gamzee's hold and grabbed onto his shirt with all her strength. In one clean toss over the girl's shoulders the Bard was thrown out of harm's way. Only a Seer could have known the misfortune to befall two star-crossed lovers. And only a Seer could have stopped it. 

Plumes of black smoke seethed from the depths of the lab and blinded Gamzee. His heart pounded as he scrambled up to his height, hands bracing himself on the wall behind him.

There wasn't a chance in the world that he would leave without the red romance he'd come into the room with. He needed her. 

Though, the troll's hopes of love would be dashed the moment his field of vision cleared even slightly. 

Once the smoke had thinned just enough to make out vague shapes in the room Gamzee's eyes widened with fear. Below him was a sickening puddle of teal and it wasn't grub sauce. He collapsed to his knees as his lungs gasped for air. 

Finally the black haze drew its ominous curtain back enough to reveal a hand lying in the blood, open in defeat. The falling rock had completely crushed the girl, but Gamzee didn't care. His heart would die in her if it was true. 

Sliding over the floor, the troll boy bent low and clutched Terezi's hand. His sobs were smothered in her gentle palm as he kissed every inch of her touch. Gamzee's shoulders trembled with each moan of grief, his arms hugging her palm to his heart. It couldn't be true. None of it. There wasn't a way in the world that the great and mindful Terezi Pyrope was killed so easily. So effortlessly. Not a chance. 

Though, she'd died in heroism. She'd risked her life, but that never changed anything for the distraught troll. His cries filled the room and crawled out into the hallway. Rose, somewhere in the maze of passages, turned toward the sound and dashed toward the lab. 

"No, no, no!" Gamzee raked his hands through his thick black hair in panic. 

Soon he was hyperventilating in shock as he watched the scene unfold. A sizeable piece of the ceiling had fallen on the young midblood. There was no graceful way to say that she was crushed beneath its weight, her blood splaying against the floor. "TZ, no... n-no," the trollboy sobbed weakly as he beat his fist into the floor. "NO!" 

Just then Rose rushed into the room. She immediately recoiled at the sight of so much teal. There was a girl with that color blood, wasn't there. Past tense. Was. 

"Oh, God," she threw her hands over her mouth to stop the wretched smell from souring her throat. Slowly the girl bent down on one knee and placed a hand on the troll's shoulder. "Gamzee? That is your name, isn't it?" Gamzee looked up at her with purple tears streaking his ashen face. He nodded slowly. 

"Everyone... just keeps dying," he choked on his words as he wiped his eyes. "But why her!" 

"Gamzee, I know you're in the very unfortunate throes of grief, but something's after the people on this rock. It's gotten Kanaya and we have to hurry. Please!" 

Just as Gamzee came to his feet the hissing noise began closing in on them. Rose jumped to the sound, but she couldn't react fast enough. Even if she could have seen what the demon down the hall was she would never be prepared for what faced her.

 

Back before the great symbol of the game Karkat was backing up in fear. The pieces of the SGrub symbol where sinking back into the door and twisting into a new shape. Something was seriously wrong. 

Peering around the corner was the unbeknownst Dave Strider all decked out in timey-wimey pajamas. His ruby eyes widened behind his ever-so-cool shades. No matter how ubiquitous other-worldly Daves could be there was no way in time or space that he could have understood what was happening. Hell, even Karkat didn't fully understand. 

When the pieces of SGrub had realigned their shape and pattern had altered. The color was no longer a vomit-adjacent green, but a threatening red. The smaller square in the design had shifted places and changed. It wasn't even SGrub Beta at all.   
Red... adjusted design...? 

"It's the Alpha," Dave gaped at the sight. Karkat had unlocked the Alpha session. "Karkat, you... what have you done?" 

"Dave!" 

There would be no time for bickering. Red lights cast an ill-omened glow over the two knights. This light signaled rebirth and sudden change. It called the failed session to suspension in the cold grave of the embedded codes of the new game. They would become the exemplary failures of past sessions of someone did not act fast. 

And fast they did. 

Dave, knowing the fate ahead, grabbed Karkat's hand tightly and focused a great deal of energy into the troll's palm. The boy struggled against Strider's grip, but the transfer had to be done. 

Soon a searing hot pain throbbed against Kar's hand as a bright light carved the symbol of Time into his hand. Arm shaking in resistance, the troll stifled a cry of pain. What was this maddening human boy doing?

The moment the hissing wires of the Alpha session appeared from the dark depths of the control room Dave released Kar's hand. "Don't resist them," Strider called out as the wires tightened around his ankles and drug him through the shadows inside. "And don't let them see you hand!" 

Not sure if the human's instructions were legitimate, Karkat tried running from the hissing wires. He wouldn't be caught so easily. Or so he thought. 

Just when Karkat thought he was getting away from them their hold yanked the troll's feet from out from under him. The world snaked away from him as the wires dragged him towards the unknown. But this troll wouldn't go down without a fight. 

"Damn it!" He cried out, kicking and thrashing like a fish on land. 

Seeing this boy as a threat, the wires recruited help from base threads of the pods Kar was headed for. Several thicker cords snaked out from the pod's base and bound Kar's arms and legs completely. The examplaries needed to be completely still for transport or parts of them may be lost in the scheme of things. All hands and feet needed to go with their owners. 

Karkat turned his head over to see Dave leaning back in the pod opposite of him with his arms crossed over his chest. Anger seethed in the troll's hate stare, but Dave only tsk-tsk'd as the scanner ran a bright red light over his body lengthwise then widthwise. 

"If you struggle they'll duct tape your ass into that snuggly little cozy coffin until you relax. Knowing your tight, satirical ass, that'll be never," Dave smirked as the glass lid closed over the pod and sealed with a plume of steam and a hiss. 

Soon the scanner's ruby eye lowered down over Karkat and scanned him like a grocery item. The wires returned to their bases, but three metal straps appeared in their place. What was with these machines and binding? 

Seeing that Mr. Vantas was snug in his place the pod's lid sealed him beneath a curved lid of glass. Through the window Kar could see Kanaya writhing beneath the cord's grip as she was thrown into a coffin and strapped in just as tightly. 

Following her was the two tightly wrapped Rose LaLonde and Gamzee Makara. Like making meat they were tossed into their coffins, but something was wrong. Where was Terezi? But Kar didn't have time to question her whereabouts long. 

The room outside the pods swirled with hissing steam as the sound of heavy cogs and gears churning filled the air. Karkat's eyes shot around nervously as he watched the door to the Beta session close them into the room. The troll was shaken violently by panic as he struggled against the hold of the metal straps. He didn't want to die. He didn't want to give up just yet, they hadn't escaped. They hadn't won. 

That's the thing about games. They're impartial and only wish that the players win or lose. Whether or not they survive is not the concern of the gaming platform. In fact, the entirety of the participants is rather unimportant. 

What mattered then and there was the proceeding session, but the Beta players could not understand. 

Karkat forced the bars enough to turn over on his side and see Dave. The Knight was calmly lying in the coffin with his eyes fixed on an unseen point. 

Slowly the human glanced sideways to see Karkat's panic-stricken face. There was something familiar in the troll's fear. It was like staring into a rippling lake and trying to focus the vaguely conversant face even though you knew, somewhere deep down, what that face was. 

Just before the drop Dave raised his hand up to the glass and stared deeply into Karkat's eyes. If he could convey something without words it needed to be done in that moment. The boy nodded once to assure the panicked troll that there was nothing to fear. 

In the pod across from Strider Karkat was breathing heavy, but stifling it to try to grasp the message. The troll swallowed hard as he freed one hand long enough to press it into the cool surface of the glass. Warm condensation bloomed out from beneath the mutant's palm, showing his feverish distress. All Dave could do was mouth a few words to the Knight to quell his fears. 

"It'll be okay. I'm here." 

Though, Karkat did not understand. What was Dave being there going to do to stop this madness? He was the Knight of Time, not the Seer of Time. He couldn't see ahead into their grim future. Rose was strapped in two pods away and it wasn't as if they could speak to each other anyway. 

Frantically Vantas spun his head back around and drew his eyes wide at Dave. His lips trembled as he spoke. 

"What if you're not enough?" 

Dave sighed and shook his head. When he looked up he was smirking with self-satisfaction. If a person could have been any smugger then Dave Strider in that very moment then no one knew it. With a soft chortle and a wink Dave spoke. 

"I'm enough and then some." 

A fiery doubt burned in Karkat's face as he slapped the glass. Being so full of yourself had never gotten them anywhere. I mean, just look at how Eridan went. He's dead. 

"You're such a frickin' ass, Strider!" Karkat snarled from beneath the clutches of the straps. 

"Love ya' too, you dick," Dave snickered as the room trembled with a great roar. 

Even before Karkat had a chance to snap back with blackened words a numbing vibration filled the lab. Incessant clicking buzzed in the player's ears as the floor beneath the pods opened. The massive blades that made up the floor of the lab slowly pulled back into the top level of the floor. Opening wide like the mouth of a black hole was the bottomless pit beneath the pod dock. Everyone but Dave was dreading the inevitable drop. 

Still losing it was the young mutant troll who was hyperventilating beneath the glass. He refused to die by the hands of the game. He would live and he wouldn't die a failure. He absolutely rejected his fate. Though, for now he would remain an emotional wreck locked beneath metal straps in an escape pod. 

Just as Karkat had finally calmed down a bit the pod's were pushed off the docks and plunged down into deep darkness. The moment before the drop was slowed to a sluggish pace. Kar had opened his eyes just long enough to see the world disappear from his sight. 

Panic surged through the troll's veins as his chest squeezed with fear. His eyes shot around in distress as he writhed in the pod. The Jetstream was deafening, yet the troll screamed. Throat burning hot Karkat screamed into the space inside the glass and steel compartment. What else was he expected to do? 

The mutant cried out in fear and defiance until his voice began to crackle with exhaustion. Chest heaving, Karkat let his head drop back against the padded lining of the pod. His body was twitching nervously along with his fluttering eyelids. Finally he was tiring. Would a dream finally reach him? Just this once? 

To the troll's dismay he only lolled his head against his shoulder and whimpered as burning tears brimmed in his eyes. Were his cries truly in fear or was he trying to coax sleep to take over his body? Just one dream so that he could make sense of left and right again. Maybe then his trolling wouldn't be second rate. Maybe his leadership wouldn't be sub-par. Maybe something would turn out right if he could just sleep. 

Across the stream was Dave drumming his fingertips against his arms as he waited for the fall to end. It would happen soon, but not soon enough. Rose and Kanaya would crash into the Alpha session back on Earth. Gamzee would either crash through the veil and become suspended with the exiles or would die in the impact. It was vital, though, that the "high blood" stays alive. As for Dave and Karkat? They'd break ground in everything's-too-fuckin'-big-for-your-mouth Texas. Home, shitty, home. 

But for now... now there was just ticking, tocking time to kill.

 

Feferi's eyes fluttered open, her lashes dripping with dew. Her fingertips wiggled in the watery material of the dream bubble. Her fuchsia smile curled over her cheeks in delight.

Thank the dark gods that her lusus' relations granted these tired trolls a flickering dream in semi-faulty memories. Though, memories didn't matter anymore. They never do. Not when you're dead.

 

A lazy gaze scanned the flickering blue and white lights of the Alpha session. The straps had retracted when Karkat had fully relaxed against the soft, gel-like pad of the transit pod. Outside the world was a peaceful ebbing and flowing of blurred lights, soothing the troll into an unbeknownst slumber. 

Before the troll could even assess his exhaustion the thick cloak of sleep befell him. His body was lifted into the cradling arms of mother exhaustion and hushed by her sweet shuttering hushes. The peace of a heavy sleep was a greater mercy than any the mutant had ever seen.

Neither friend nor kindness out of social graces had ever felt as sweet as passing out after drudging through weeks without sleep. 

For a while he just felt like he was floating in the colors he watched, but then things got strangely watery. Even so, nothing was wet. It was liquid silk that wisped around Kar's body like a wind whipping through you. 

Slowly the troll boy's eyes opened to see something strangely familiar. It was a beautiful forest with trees the color of the ocean and leaves the color of roses. As his vision cleared he saw that the trees were more teal that the leaves more fuchsia. The grass beneath his body was soft and fine like spider's silk. A gentle breeze raised a symphony of rustling branches and turning leaves from the forest's canopy. 

The warmth of the forest was comforting, but Karkat would have much preferred to know exactly where he was. Slowly he pushed his back off the trunk of a tree and rose to his full height. Cautiously he took his first step on the smooth ground into the dreamy place. 

Somewhere from the corner growing from a dewy pond were tall reeds that blew beautiful notes just like flutes. Buzzing dragonflies zipped through the air, their scaly bodies and six tiny eyes watching the forest floor. Scampering through the forest came young deer with four eyes and antlers that sprouted leaves just like branches from the trees. As soon as Kar spotted them they trotted away. 

"This place is... so peaceful..." He mused aloud as he walked further and further into the strangely serene woods. 

After a while Karkat came to a round clearing in the forest where a grand tree stuck out above the rest. From its branches hung scalemates tightly hung in nooses that swung in the breeze. Though, that wasn't the thing that struck the troll the most. It was the hive in the tree that fascinated him most. "Terezi!" He gasped as he broke into a sprint towards the hanging ladder dangling from a powerful looking branch. It teased him with the thought that the girl could be waiting for him. 

Frantically he took a hold of the highest rung he could reach. His hands gripped the rung tightly as he swung with the ladder. He had to reach her. Just one chance to finally ask her why she'd done what she had done. How she'd evaded capture. But most importantly, why she felt flushed for his ex-moirail. All he needed was an answer and maybe he could live the rest of his short sweeps in peace. 

Out of breath and out of words, Karkat reached the deck sprawling out from the entrance of the hive. He clambered up to door and pushed his hands against it, lungs heaving in a tight gasp. He at least had to collect himself before he faced his greatest fear and his best friend. That much he could manage. 

When he'd finally collected himself he straightened up and opened the door. Inside the hive was decorated with bright colors all smeared with lick marks and drawings strewn over their surface. Broken or worn down pieces of chalk sat on the floor and rolled around on the table when Karkat slammed the door behind him. 

"Terezi!" He called, eyes shooting around from one end of the hive to the other. "Terezi? Are you here?" 

Quickly the troll boy spotted a ladder that led up to a higher level in the hive. He dashed over and scaled it effortlessly in his search for his semi-beloved. 

Up on the loft sat her sopor pod and a pile of scalemates. One had black shades, its skin the color of red, which Karkat determined was in the likeness of Dave. Next to it was a brighter red scalemate with little nubs of orange and gold chalk glued on top of his head. 

The boy knelt down on one knee and picked it up, eyes falling as his heart skipped a small beat. This scalemate was clearly loved dearly by the worn look it held. On its soft stomach the dragon bore the symbol that Kar had clung to tightly to. Out of the multitudes of over plush dragons in the pile this one looked the most adored. Just knowing that Terezi had snuggled that plush long enough to give it wear and tear made him tear up. 

Looking across the loft he saw her work table with purple fabric rolled out, and a half-finished scalemate lying under the lamp. Karkat approached it slowly, his chest clenching with the thought. He glanced down on it and saw that the headless plush held Gamzee's symbol. So what did it mean? Had her love for Karkat died or was she simply adding to her love. He was sure that at some point she'd had a thing for Dave, but that scalemate didn't look too old. 

That's right, he was there first. He was her first love and even if he wasn't her only, he would always be her first. Her heart was always his, no matter who else told the troll otherwise.   
However, Terezi could never tell him firsthand. Not yet, at least. That's all the troll boywanted. Confirmation. 

Soft footsteps broke the silence of Kar's thoughts. He spun around to face the person, heart fluttering in hope that it was Terezi, but those optimistic prayers were dashed. It was only Dave looming over him. Though, not Dave. 

This Dave was watching the troll from behind his essential cool kid shades. His god tier jammies had been replaced by a crisply pressed suit sans a dashing blazer. Instead, a white vest with the broken record insignia over the left breast pocket. Beneath the fine tailored vest was a blood red dress shirt that was tucked into pressed, black slacks. Matching dress shoes made the man. If not for Karkat's broken-hearted state he would have patronized the human for his odd interest in fashion, but he was too confused. Nothing was making sense. 

"She's not here," Dave answered the troll's unspoken thoughts. "She won't be." 

"Did we land?" 

Dave shook his head. "One of your troll ladies made a wicked deal with the grimdark gods or some shit and made dream bubbles. Alien monster burp ups filled with our memories, in short." 

"Fef... but I've never been to Terezi's hive," Karkat stared back at the scalemate, his hands smoothing over its soft stomach. 

"No, but some of the bubbles are like public domains on the internet. Multiple subconscious minds can add to the grand scheme of things. Her memories are accessible by all who happen to stumbling into the right place at the right time," Dave explained loosely as he smirked at the sight of the promised Strider inspired scalemate. 

"Then where is she?" 

"Away. She's in limbo, probably." 

"What's that?" 

Dave rubbed his hairless chin and thought long and hard how to explain a human theory of God's waiting room to be judged. After some pondering he thought it best to just come up with a short answer. 

"Human things," he nodded. 

"Whatever..." Kar turned back to the plush and felt his throat close up in grief. God, he hoped she hadn't been locked back in the Beta session. They may never see each other again except in the off chance of their coincidence in dream bubbles. Oh, but the odds of that weren't very stellar. 

"Why are you crying?" Dave took a few steps closer, but Karkat didn't move. 

Usually when Dave tried to bring up the troll's mood swings he was lashed with hateful words and a long lecture about how he was the supreme overlord Sir Ass the First and Only. 

However, this time, Karkat stayed silent and gripped the scalemate tightly. What point was it to hide his misery? He was heartbroken. He used to be loved so dearly and now? Now he was just the secondhand lover left in a pile amongst other toys. Gamzee was taking his place. 

Dave knelt down beside Karkat and put one arm around the troll's shoulder. He was strangely warmer than any other person he'd touched. It was comforting as the boy's heart tightened in its own throes of grief. 

"You, uh," Dave cleared his throat. "You know what happens when a session closes, right?"   
Karkat didn't want to hear it. He didn't want his greatest fears confirmed. 

"No..." 

"It's like closing a window... but without saving," Dave's hand gripped the boy's shoulder tighter. Was he bracing the troll or himself? "The data gets deleted... and without a back-up or recovery..." He paused to clear his throat again. It wasn't cool to cry during a speech.

"Things burn up." 

Finally the troll broke. His cheeks, streaming with transparent red, burned in misery. His sobs wracked his body like a storm as he hugged himself and fell over. His forehead pressed into the ground as he screamed out his pain and let his cries tell his story. Every inch of him trembled with melancholy as he reached out and beat his fist into the floor. 

He hated this game. He hated the world. God, he even hated himself. If he just hadn't wanted to be leader and let everyone do as the game was set to do maybe, just fucking maybe, she would still be alive. She wouldn't have tried to make everyone get along and he wouldn't have fucked everything up. People would have died like they were supposed to and maybe Terezi wouldn't have been one of them. He'd rather be dead than to watch his love die. But he was not alone in this grief. 

Dave reached down and pulled Karkat up to his knees and stared into the troll's face for a long time. After swallowing his own pride the boy pulled the grief-stricken one into his arms and let him heave his sobs from his body. He knew how hard it was to keep so much in for so long and then to need to just scream. The painful cries of sorrow knew no other way to be soothed than to just let it all go. 

Silently, however, Dave choked back a hiccup of his own and let a few tears roll down his cheek. Thank God that Karkat was sobbing into his chest or he would have broken the moment with an insult. Though, Dave didn't really care. He'd just lost one of his best friends. The pain was worse than losing his impartial brother. 

After his sobs turned to shuddering breaths, Karkat gripped the boy's arms tightly and straightened him up. He was shocked to see Dave wiping his own tears away and looking off. He rubbed his nose with his thumb in a single, defiant swipe as if to silently say, "I'm not crying, I sneezed." 

Feeling ashamed of his childish crying the troll, too, rubbed his cheeks free of the watery red and cleared his throat nervously. Though his crying had stopped, his grieving was only beginning. 

Dave was the first to speak with his throat just hoarse enough to hint to his smothered sobs. "It'll be okay... there's always, you know. God tier," Dave stared into the colorful drawings on the walls. 

"If she makes it..." 

"She will. I know she will." 

A long silence stretched between the two before Karkat opened his mouth. His lips hung parted for a moment before he finally spoke. 

"Listen... I mean... I still hate you and all... fuck, I hate you a lot sometimes, but we're good," Karkat nodded nervously as he clenched his fists against his knees. Dave cocked a brow at such a comment, but he'd take it. It was better than just plain old 'Go fuck yourself.' 

"We're here," was all Dave said before the dream bubble swirled with darkness and then suddenly became frighteningly bright. 

Burning light seared the troll's eyes as the world swirled in white and blue, the pod spiraling in the air. The motion made him sick to his stomach, but he had to hold on to something.

Stricken by panic, Karkat braced himself by pushing his hands into the side of the pod, hoping to still the spinning. No such luck.  
Instead a loud whistling sound filled his ears as the transit hull came closer and closer to the massive body of shimmering blue. Suddenly a loud crash sent a loud ringing through Karkat's head. His hands flew over his ears to stifle the agony. Instead a warm trickle of blood stained his palm. Yet there were only seconds to spare between the realization of bloodshed and the automatic collapse of the pod. 

Karkat's eyes drew wide as a spidery crack raced across the curved glass sealing him inside the hull. Only a few seconds passed before water crushed down over his body and sent him clawing through the water. Air was the only thing on his mind as he swam deeper into the water thanks to disorientation. 

Just when he thought he'd suffocate a blast of refreshing oxygen filled his lungs. He gasped delightfully to regain his bearings on where he was. Awe filled the troll as he looked up from the sandy ocean floor. The pod's pieces were floating on the surface above, but the brilliant view from below was far more satisfying. 

Rippling rays of light brightened the colorful schools of fish that swam in unison through the ocean. Magnificently pigmented corals drew the troll's attention as his eyes watched the little clown fish zip and zoom from the anemone’s wriggling tendrils. Curious of their substance, Karkat ran his fingers through the fleshy fronds and felt an electric, tickling sensation run over his palm. This would was so strange and beautiful. He wasn't sure what to say. 

Though, it was bothered him that he was breathing beneath the water. How as that even possible? 

Seeing the best option to swim back up to the surface Karkat kicked off the ocean floor and reached out for the air. Breaking the surface was so strange that his lungs had trouble realizing what he was breathing anymore. 

The view from above was just as strange and miraculous. A white sandy beach with leaning palms and inviting shade called the troll to shore. Just a few feet from the spectacular reef came a shallow part of the water that was easier to walk in than try to dog paddle through. 

Up on land Karkat marveled at the view that was amazing in a complete circle. He must have looked very stupid just walking in circles like that. How childish. But what about the others? 

Just when the troll turned to look Dave stumbled out from the thick grove of palms and leafy shrubs. He raised a dizzied hand and swayed as he walked towards the alien boy. After breathing in a few times and focusing his eyes, Dave announced, "It's just us," before collapsing face first into the sand. Karkat stared down at the boy and narrowed his eyes.

Surely not all humans did this when they walked on earth, right?


End file.
